Just pondering today: Whatever happened to all those cape-draped superheroes of the 2010 Primary and General elections who promised to be grand defenders of our constitutional values?
Take, for instance, the Primary for Congressional District 1. We know all too well what the outcome of that race was, and the subsequent General election. Certainly we didn’t really expect our candidate Kenneth Wegner to win, and we surly knew that Shelley Berkley would just give us more of the same. Yet, as I recall, the Primary was packed full of Republican and conservative hopefuls - ten to be exact; David Cunningham, Michele Fiore, Chuck Flume, Jonathan Hansen, Ed Klapproth, Craig Lake, Mike Monroe, Scott Neistadt, Joseph Tatner, and Kenneth Wegner.
So where are our caped crusaders now; what have they been up to since the election? I’ve seen Craig Lake about, from time to time. He worked on Dr. Joe Heck’s campaign for a bit, and I saw that he was a recent speaker at the Republican Men’s Club - though not having received my invitation (albeit a member), I wasn’t privy to what Lake had to say. Joseph Tatner was writing a column for the Las Vegas Tribune for awhile, until he quit when Michele Fiore was named the Director of Community and Political Affairs. Some resentments die hard, I suppose. I haven’t seen him around in quite some time. As the Director of Community and Political Affairs, Fiore was writing a weekly column for the Tribune, as well as leading the Editorial Board in endorsement decisions. Once the General election completed, however, Fiore chose not to continue with the Tribune. I did see her recently at the First Friday’s event at Stoney’s this month and understand she’s been focused on managing her home healthcare business and working hard assisting the disabled.
I’ve not seen hide nor hair of Kenneth Wegner since he laid down at Berkley’s feet, and don’t know if he’s given up on politics all together, or if he’s just resting in order to gain strength for butting his head up against the CD1 wall for a fourth time. There hasn’t been any recent news on any of the other candidates, and all I’ve seen of Klapproth is a campaign sign that remains on or about Tenaya Rd in the Northwest.
As for the gubernatorial race; although the mainstream press acknowledged only two of the seven candidates running, five of the candidates represented all manner of grassroots activism. Aside from our newly elected Governor Brian Sandoval, and the Democratic loser, Rory Reid, the other candidates who claimed to stand for ‘We the People’were; David Scott Curtis of the Green Party; Eugene ""Gino"" DiSimone, an independent non-partisan; Floyd Fitzgibbons of the Independent American Party; Aaron Y. Honig, an independent; and Arthur Forest Lampitt, Jr. of the Libertarian Party. Although some of the candidates reside outside of Clark County, they still should be vocalizing their thoughts on the current administration, and acting with other citizens to check and balance the system. Even the most recognized of the five alternative candidates, Gino DiSimone, seems to have disappeared off the radar, not even having an active Facebook page anymore.
Perhaps it’s harder wearing a cape than many realize. Maybe our hopes and expectations should be rested on ourselves instead of on others who have their own hopes and expectations guiding them. I know I don’t have any superheroes anymore. The change I want to see in my state will have to come from me, and I will work in the trenches with anyone else who wants to work as diligently as I do.
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